OUTSIDE TOKYO

‘Great Masters of Modern Japanese Painting from the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art’

Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Featuring pieces on loan from the Hokkaido Museum of Art, this exhibition focuses on contemporary nihonga (Japanese-style painting), a modern form of Japanese painting, which was pioneered in the late 1800s by American art historian Ernest Fenollosa along with his Japanese assistant Kakuza Okakura.

When Japan opened up to Western influence during the Meiji Era (1868-1912), traditional forms of Japanese art slowly began to decline as collectors favored Western-style works. Fenollosa and Okakura were the dominant voices in the preservation of traditional Japanese style, which has since shaped modern nihonga as we appreciate it today. This exhibition features 52 works by some of Japan’s most influential nihonga artists, including Yokoyama Taikan, Takeuchi Seiho and Tamako Kataoka; Oct. 19-Dec. 1.